Officials from the city of Steamboat Springs and Steamboat Ski & Resort Corp. convened Monday morning to discuss the resort’s planned paid-parking program for next winter, with city leaders warning that the policy could shift traffic, parking demand and transit pressure into nearby neighborhoods and downtown.

The meeting, which omitted a public comment period, was attended by local officials including Steamboat Springs City Council members Steve Muntean and Gail Garey, along with City Manager Tom Leeson and Public Works Director Jon Snyder.

Steamboat Ski Corp. President and Chief Operating Officer Dave Hunter, Director of Development and Strategic Initiatives Michael Ann LaMotte and Director of Security and Transportation Brett Mason represented the resort. Over 50 members of the public attended via Zoom. 

The resort announced the changes for next season on March 10. Weekday skiers will find no-cost parking in the Meadows lot on Monday through Thursday, but will have to pay for parking on weekends and peak periods unless they arrive after 1 p.m. or have three or more people in their vehicle.

Paid parking will apply at both the Upper Knoll and Lower Knoll lots on both weekdays and weekends, though the Upper Knoll will remain free after 1 p.m. Visitors with three or more people in their vehicle can park at Upper Knoll for free at any time but must reserve a spot in advance. 

Muntean opened the meeting by framing the discussion as part of a larger partnership; but he also made clear the stakes: The resort’s parking change, he said, would require the community to confront “the benefits and impacts of change” and figure out who is responsible for reducing the fallout. 

“We don’t view this meeting as a one-and-done,” he said. “This is a process that will have some agreed-to next steps, action plans and accountabilities.”

Resort leaders said they understand and expect negative responses from some community members. 

“We know this is not a popular announcement, and we understand that,” said Hunter. “We are absolutely willing to work through impacts and potential mitigations that will not deter us from our goals of reducing single-occupancy vehicles, reducing congestion and providing a better overall arrival experience.”

He also clarified that the idea for a parking-demand strategy is “not a new topic.”

He said the resort had been talking about parking-demand strategies for years and stated the decision grew from existing plans — including the Wild Blue Development Agreement and the Steamboat Springs Community Canvas — versus a sudden pivot. 

Hunter noted that under the Community Canvas plan’s section titled, “Managing the Destination,” it states that “investing in increased transit frequency, bus stops, implementing paid parking and high traffic destinations, such as downtown and Steamboat Ski Resort, will help make transit a more reliable, fast and cost-effective alternative to driving.”

LaMotte said the resort took a year-long planning approach and brought city staff into the conversation early. She said the company is now in the implementation phase, with roughly seven months before opening day next winter to work through the details.

The March 10 announcement on the paid parking program, she and Hunter said, was timed to release prior to the Ikon Pass going on sale. 

The resort’s central argument is straightforward: The resort’s parking lots are too full on too many peak days, and the answer is to push more people toward carpools, transit and other alternatives, with the overall aim of reducing single-occupancy vehicles.

Mason, who oversees parking operations, said the resort’s recent parking studies show fewer than two people per car entering the lots on average. On one busy weekend, about 600 cars entered the Upper Knoll and Meadows lots combined.

If the program works as intended, it should reduce the days the resort has to utilize overflow parking, he added, meaning “there’ll be less cars out there on the road, less cars circulating and out looking for parking spaces.”

The city’s response, however, was less about the theory than tangible consequences. 

Snyder warned that the policy could simply move the parking problem from resort lots into nearby streets, private lots and transit stops. 

“Our chief concern is displacement of parking,” said Snyder, who noted that police do not enforce parking restrictions on private property. Snyder said there is little wintertime parking capacity left on public streets near the base area.

Snyder also raised concerns about Steamboat Springs Transit absorbing the overflow, underscoring the lack of excess capacity as it is.

“We’re running every bus we have, and we are leaving people behind … especially on Saturdays, Sundays and holidays,” he said.

Leeson jumped in to add that, without “significant investment” in the transit system — including new buses and bus barns — it is not possible for SST to increase its capacity. 

“We may be leaving people behind today; we will continue to leave people behind as that demand increases,” said Leeson, “and there is not a whole lot we can do about it without the city stepping up and spending millions of dollars to improve and increase that service.”

Steamboat Chamber CEO Sarah Leonard, providing the business community’s perspective, highlighted that the local workforce is already carrying “the crushing weight of cost of living here anyways,” and warned the new charges add another expense for employees. 

She said many workers commute from Hayden, Craig or Oak Creek, where there are limited park-and-ride options. She also warned the paid parking could push customers toward downtown or other destinations. 

“A specific concern from a business up there is from the hospital,” said Leonard. “The hospital is used for overflow now, but if it becomes more utilized, what the hospital doesn’t want to have happen is to have to go into a permit or a validated parking system.” 

“That’s hard if you have a loved one in the ER and you forget to validate your parking,” she added. “Your day goes from bad to worse.”

Leonard also pointed to a more vulnerable group: people with limited mobility. She said there is a “transportation desert” between Steamboat Boulevard, Fish Creek Falls Road and Amethyst Drive, and argued that for people who cannot easily walk hills or depend on transit, the new policy may leave them with few choices.

Muntean read a list of concerns that had come in through emails and public comments, including the burden on solo skiers, adults with children and residents with less flexibility to plan ahead. 

Garey said affordability should remain front and center. 

“We know that affordability in this community is a major issue,” she said, and the paid-parking policy is “just one more aspect that adds to that.”

The resort said it does not intend for the plan to punish locals. Hunter said the resort views locals as guests just the same as visitors, but that changing behavior by reducing single-occupancy vehicles is the “driving force.” 

He pushed back on the notion that the resort should soften the policy so much that it loses its purpose, saying that if the answer is simply to let everyone park free, “that’s not going to solve the problem we’re trying to solve.”

LaMotte said that the resort has launched two surveys: one to all base area businesses and one to all properties in the base area with proximity to the Meadows lot or to a bus stop with adjacent parking. The goal of the surveys is to gain a greater understanding of parking needs and concerns.

Garey also pressed resort officials on what public outreach and engagement they implemented prior to announcing the changes, to which LaMotte responded that the sole outreach at that point was making the announcement prior to the 2026-27 Ikon Pass going on sale. 

A next meeting, tentatively expected to take place sometime in May, will dive more deeply into mitigation strategies and who absorbs consequences of paid parking.